A Friend In Need
by smileaway96
Summary: Samus Aran goes to Tallon IV to complete a mission that she knows very little-too little-about. Strange distress signals? Or is it just a scheme? Or maybe a potential yet unlikely ally? Review, please!
1. Out of the Blue

Samus grumbled as the intensely cold temperature in Phendrana Drifts fogged up her green visor. She looked around for any critters that could be hiding in the snowy banks, keeping her gun arm steady and aimed at the wet and white ground. Seeing no blurs of sudden movement through the clouded visor, Samus trudged on through the snow and jumped over a trail of boulders that lined up next to a cliff.

The mission that the bounty hunter had been given reverberated suddenly in her mind.

_Find the source of the distress signal that we've been receiving from Tallon IV. _

It was a strange mission; Samus never answered strange and unknown distress signals like this one. It was a peculiar thing, hearing the crackling of the message on the radar. Samus could barely remember what the voice had been saying, or even if it had been talking at all, but the scientists claimed that the radar was picking up cries of anguish from Tallon IV. They stopped abruptly due to weak connections, but somehow the chief ended up asking Samus to find out what it was.

"And here I am," she thought grimly as she fell into a deep ditch. Cursing, the bounty hunter picked herself up and brushed off the powdery snowflakes from her suit. "Now where is this distress signal coming from?"

Samus opened up the map data stored in her helmet and tried to find the location of the distress signal. The radar was picking up small readings of the signal again, but each time, the sound waves produced were too weak for Samus' radar to detect the location of the source. Groaning in frustration, the bounty hunter closed the map and collected her thoughts.

_This shouldn't be that hard,_ she speculated, _but why are these signals so horribly weak? Am I in the wrong place? Are they even coming from this planet?_

The falling snowflakes grew bigger ad fell faster, moving with a quickening breeze. They splattered against the hunter's visor and obscured her vision. Samus looked around to find a cave that would provide shelter in the midst of the storm. Stumbling through the snow that became deeper with every snowflake, Samus peeked through the few clear spots on her visor. Her boots sank into the snow, creating a pleasant crunching sound every time she took a step.

The bounty hunter continued to aimlessly wade through the white layer until her foot caught on a rock that was frozen to the ground. She landed on her non-gun arm and on a hard stone floor that wasn't covered in snow. The sound of the metallic suit touching the rocky ground audibly echoed on the walls around it.

_And so I make my grand entrance,_ Samus thought sarcastically. Brushing herself off, Samus waited until the fog from her visor had cleared away, and then stood up. She gazed into a dark tunnel with a dripping ceiling and small bug-like creatures crawling around on the floor and walls. _Might as well just descend into here,_ Samus said to herself. Thus, she made her way deeper into the cave to see what she could find.

The hunter opened her map again, and found herself mildly and pleasantly surprised that the signals were getting stronger as she went through the cave. Shooting her way through a wall of frozen rocks, Samus closed the map and followed the direction it told her to go.

"Southwest . . ." the hunter mumbled to herself. "And then . . . east? No, maybe north . . ."

Again and again the bounty hunter kept opening up her map on the visor to constantly check where she was supposed to be. She blasted a few critters that threatened her with merciless hissing sounds, and then retreated as each shot was fired. The cave grew darker and deeper as Samus ventured further into it. The radar picked up stronger sound waves created by the distress signal, and they were becoming more and more evident the deeper the hunter traveled.

Stopping for a moment, Samus checked her map again and noticed that she was steadily getting closer to the source of the signal. Quietly celebrating her success, Samus didn't realize how close she was to a large chasm full of melted snow, or simply, water. After she shut down the map, Samus' boot slid down the incline, and she fell on her backside into the below-freezing abyss of water.

Crying out in frustration and slight alarm, the hunter threw her head back and hoped no one saw her, even under the water. Standing up underwater without the gravity suit upgrade was not an easy task; and that also applied to walking, jumping, and moving in general. Samus scanned the huge flooded chasm for a way back up to land, clambering on top of rocks and attempting to jump onto other ones.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me . . ." she groaned after being unsuccessful in her search for a reasonable way to get back to the surface. Her suit didn't allow her to space jump as high as it would have on land. "Dangit!" she yelled to no one in particular.

Samus opened her map to see where she was in regards to the distress signal. The signal was close, very close, and the sound waves were getting stronger. As though she were walking through molasses, the hunter trudged forward through the water. Another few minutes of aimless trudging commenced until Samus finally found an underwater cliff that she could easily climb with the few rocks piled up in front of it. Relieved, Samus staggered to the cliff and scrambled up the rocks. After a good half hour of struggling, Samus made her way to the top and emerged from the surface of the water. The cliff was only submerged under the water by two feet, leaving the hunter to wade through to the dry land.

"Whew . . ." she breathed, "now where's that poor sucker?"

Samus checked her map to find that the signals were becoming intense with every step she took; she couldn't be far off now. Coming closer to the source, Samus closed the map and scanned the area.

"Hello?" she called, uncertainly, "we've been hearing your signals, so give me your location!"

The hunter awkwardly looked around for a figure who might look as though they were in distress. Seeing nothing in the dark, she turned on a bright light and used it to navigate her way through the dark and open cavern.

Bewildered, Samus shook her head and sighed.

"Come on, where are you?"

No sooner were the words over her tongue when the hunter tripped over a pile of rocks leading into a dead-end tunnel. From underneath the rocks there came a strange sound. _Could it be . . . ?_ Samus thought hopefully. Re-opening her map for the umpteenth time, the hunter checked, just to be sure. Noticing a definite increase in the frequency of the signal, Samus scoured the small tunnel. Once again, she slipped into a small puddle of water. The odd sound stopped.

"Ahh, no, I lost it!" Samus cried out in despair.

Another sound came loud, shrill, and frightening.

"Waaaahhh!"

Backing away, Samus lit up her beam of light. She shone it on a crumpled purple figure that yelped with a raspy voice. It was a space pirate, one of Ridley's minions.

In a frenzy, the hunter started shooting at the confused figure. He yelled and jumped out of the cavern. Samus chased him out without tripping or sliding through the wet puddle.

The space pirate shuddered as he reduced himself to a ball of spindly limbs on the ground. He whimpered madly, muttering unintelligibly. Samus aimed her gun arm at the space pirate and switched it to "missile launcher". Then, she realized something and turned on her map.

"Are you sending out distress signals, space pirate?" she asked harshly. "Answer me!"

Spluttering, the space pirate replied.

"Y-yeah, well, n-no, not really . . . I mean, I g-guess . . . perhaps, maybe . . ."

"Were you or not?" Samus demanded, pointing her gun arm closer to the figure's face.

"Oh, yes, ma'am, certainly, of course!" he said, nodding his head frantically. "Absolutely, most definitely, undoubtedly—"

"Okay, I get it!" Samus yelled. The space pirate shut his mouth and continued to whimper. Samus started to ask him questions again. "Now, I've come to rescue you. Who are you and why are you . . . distressed?"

The space pirate hastily scrambled to his feet and brushed himself off.

"Well, this . . . this is incredible! You've come to rescue little old me? Oh, huzzah! Oh joyous day, oh, I feel so free and light on my feet! Ha haaa! That's really fantastic; I'm truly honored to be—ahh!"

The pirate shrieked as Samus blasted a power beam at him, annoyed. He jumped out of the way and cowered on the ground again.

"Would you answer me, space pirate?" she growled through bared teeth.

"W-well, I . . . I, uh . . . ahh, heh . . . what was the question?" the pirate asked sheepishly. Samus stepped on his back, threatening him.

"Look, space pirate, I don't know what your scheme is here, but I was sent here because of a distress signal. I'll ask you one more time: Who are you and why have I been getting distress signals?"

The space pirate stood up again as Samus removed her foot from his back.

"Well, uh . . . uh let me see, now . . . my name is Bronko, t-to answer that one. A-and I haven't been sending out a-any signals."

Samus, widening her eyes in disbelief, checked her map and radar. The signals had stopped right where she was standing.

"You must have," she mumbled, "the sound waves stopped when I came to this spot. I swear . . ."

Bronko laughed timidly.

"Oh, dear . . . uh, you must have been hearing m-my snoring, then."

"What do you mean?" Samus asked, aggressive. Backing away and quivering, Bronko covered up his face with his massive scythes.

"W-well, y'see, ma'am . . . my throat vibrates in such a way when I sleep, y'know, a-and . . . well, it might cause some disruptions in sonar readings, s-so you must have b-been picking up the sound of me sleeping."

Samus remained speechless for a moment, in a state of utter shock. There hadn't been any signals at all? Bronko, seeing another opportunity to speak, piped up again.

"B-but I will say, I am kind of lost, if that helps anything."

"You'd better be, you bug-eyed little-"

Bronko yelped and cowered again.

"Y-yes, yes, I'm lost, m-ma'am! D-don't hit me, please! Or shoot me!"

Samus didn't know what to do. Her past experiences with space pirates had never been positive ones, and she didn't expect this one to be any different. However, Bronko seemed . . . how should she put it? Innocent. Yes, he seemed much more innocent than a normal bloodthirsty creature. Samus shrugged off her annoyance.

"Look, space pirate, I don't know why you're here, but I'll take you back outside. Don't try anything, and I won't shoot you. Got it?"

Nervously, Bronko nodded.

"Oh, thank you, kind stranger, thank you! Oh, you're such a wonderful helper! My soul is saved! I'm free! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank-"

Samus cut him off by giving him an intense and murderous glare.

"You have the right to remain silent," she snarled while staring the space pirate straight in his blue bug-eyes.

"Oh, yes. Right. Of course, no talking. Yes, I understand. My lips are sealed, ma'am. Tight as a drum!"

"They'd better be," Samus grumbled as she led a chatty Bronko out of the large cavern.


	2. Sobstory?

Samus growled and tried not to let her temper flare as she tolerated the sound of Bronko's voice as they walked out of the tunnel. His voice was high and raspy, like he had sucked in helium and hadn't swallowed a drop of water in years. Some things he said resembled pure nonsense. Here's an example:

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen such beautiful moss," he'd say as he gazed at the cavern wall.

"That isn't moss, that's green neonstone," Samus would reply, annoyed.

"Well, it looks like the color of my aunt's ugly warts! I think she's got some sort of disease . . ."

This sort of exchange lasted until Samus and Bronko came to the end of the cavern. Samus squinted as she entered the light and breathed a sigh of relief as Bronko continued on about the sound of water dripping from the ceiling.

"Okay, we're out," Samus announced, ready to leave the pirate. She hardly cared if he was after her any more; the pirate seemed somewhat less than intimidating.

"Oh, my! Look, is it true? We're finally out? Good grief, I don't think I've ever been so happy!"

"Neither have I," the hunter muttered under her breath. "Now, I'm going to leave. Glad to help."

Samus started walking away quickly, hoping never to hear another word about anyone's aunt or their skin conditions. Bronko stood dazed for a moment, and then it registered in his mind what was happening.

"Wait! I . . . I still don't know where I am! Friend, you gotta help me, I'm . . . uh, still lost!"

Samus stopped and squeezed her eyes shut, forcing herself to keep a curse word stuck in her throat.

"What else could you need, space pirate?" she asked through her teeth. "I'm a busy woman."

Bronko timidly stepped towards the hunter.

"I, well . . . I need, uh . . . someplace to go," he answered nervously, "See, I . . . don't have a home. Well, not anymore."

Bronko let out a weak chuckle as he stared at the back of Samus' suit. Samus grumbled and turned around.

"Look, this is a nice place," she started, "Phendrana Drifts is beautiful. You can manage here, I think."

She turned to walk away when she felt a tugging at her leg, followed by loud and obnoxious sobbing.

"Oh, please, miss hunter, don't leave me!" wailed the pathetic space pirate, "I can't live by myself! Oh, no one really likes me! Oh woe, agony, and everything else! Please don't leave, please! Take me with you!"

Samus shook the space pirate off and glared at him as he wiped tears from his eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I have no reason to trust you. You're a space pirate; one of Ridley's men. As far as I know, you're out to kill me. Sorry, but I'm just trying not to get pulled into a trap."

Bronko curiously gazed at the hunter for a moment, and then burst out in high-pitched laughter.

"You're Samus Aran! Oh, my, that's rich! I've just asked the enemy for help! Ah ha ha ha!"

The space pirate's laughter rang out and echoed from the cliffs of Phendrana. Samus raised an eyebrow at the sudden change in disposition. Bronko's uncontrollable laughter died down as he doubled over.

"Oh my! Oh, oh, this is too much . . ." he stuttered, "Ahh, I'm sorry, Miss Aran. I don't believe you've ever seen me, have you?"

Samus looked quizzically at the pirate and slowly shook her head.

"No, why?"

"Well, I'm glad you asked! I will share with you my entire story, so just kick back, relax and open those humanoid ears of yours!"

Samus groaned and rolled her eyes, just about fed up with this entire endeavor. Bronko began to tell his story cheerfully.

"So, it all began when I was first born! Well, not exactly. Maybe after that. Anyway, my mother and father left me because I have this . . . this deformation, or mutation. See, my exoskeleton is purple. You saw, right? Yes, of course you did! Anyway, this mutation is called . . . uh, now let's see . . . Oh, yeah, it's called, 'Fragme morium'. Something about dead mind or maybe dead memory. Heh . . . I forgot. Well, once I grew up, I started working under Ridley's rule. I never saw him, nor did I go on missions. The one time I did, I accidentally knocked down a pile of stones and caused all this racket and gave away our hiding place. It was a wondrous noise! Of course, no one else thought so. They all . . . well, they started swiping at me and tried to hurt me. But I turned out okay, see? Well, next I went along with them on the same mission, but I tripped into a pool of toxic acid, I think, and then my cuts started to get infected! The other pirates didn't want to help. I understand; it was pretty gross. Well, then they took me to Ridley to tell him about me. I was excited. 'I'm meeting the boss!' I thought, 'This is going to be awesome!' I saw him and he was so cool! Except he started yelling at me . . . well, screeching, really. I looked him up and down, thinking about his superior strength. Only thing I remember after that is when he picked me up . . . and then I think he stuck me between his jaws. Boy, talk about sharp teeth! They pierced a hole in my exoskeleton! I mean, look, you can still see . . ."

Bronko lifted his scythe-arms and displayed a line of scars that poked through his hard shell. Some were still oozing an indistinguishable liquid. Samus made a face as the space pirate continued.

"So, you're probably wondering how I got here, right? Well, let me tell you, Miss Aran, let me tell you! So, my friends . . . well, my fellow space pirates told me that I could come along on a mission with them again! I was so happy; this was exciting, you see? So I came here with them, and then we found that cave. We found it . . . and then I was looking around. It was so pretty, you know? Some things you just can't even fathom the beauty! You have to savor it in that moment. So I looked around, and the next minute, my friends were all gone! Poof! They vanished into thin air! I called them, but no one actually answered. I couldn't find my way out, see? So there I was for . . . for months, I think. I don't think it's been a year yet."

Bronko stooped low in something that resembled a clumsy bow.

"That's my story! What do you think, Miss Aran?"

Samus remained silent and stifled an impending yawn. She thought back to Bronko's description Ridley's torturous treatment. In a way, the hunter felt sorry for the pirate. He had been abandoned by so many others in his mentally disabled state, and that was an injustice. However, he was an enemy . . . right? Samus bit her lip in frustrated thought. What would she do with this creature?

"Sounds like . . . sounds like you've been through a lot, Bronko," she managed to say.

"Oh, yes, but it's nothing really! I just need somewhere to go, is all. Really, I'm okay! Look, watch as I jump really high!"

Samus cringed as the pirate scrunched down and was assaulted by multiple cracking and crunching sounds that erupted from his body.

"Ooh! Ow, hold on . . . I haven't done this in ages . . ."

Bronko looked up into the gray sky of Phendrana and a look of fierce determination spread on his face. His legs sprang up, but the rest of his body launched backwards as his feet slid from underneath him. In another storm of cracking sounds, the pirate collapsed to the icy ground and rubbed his behind while groaning in pain. Samus pursed her lips.

_Oh, Zebes, he's like a child,_ she thought as Bronko shakily stood on his crooked feet again, _a poor, deformed child. _

"Oh, gracious, I haven't done that in a long time! How'd that look, ma'am? Did I really fly?" Bronko asked enthusiastically.

"Huh? Oh, yes, that was very good . . ." Samus mumbled, trying to figure out what to do with the pitiful creature. "Say, Bronko, would you . . . well, how would you like . . ."

"Oh, thank you miss! I'd love to come with you! I most certainly would enjoy finding somewhere to stay! Oh, goodness, you're a real gem, Miss Aran, really! I-"

Samus put her hand to his mouth, forcing it shut.

"If you wanna come, I'd suggest you at least try to control that mouth of yours," she said in a low voice. Bronko nodded innocently and then clung to Samus' gun arm happily.

"Thank you! Thank you so much, ma'am! You actually care; someone likes me! Yes, yes, I knew this day would come!"

Samus yanked her arm away from the pirate and led him back to her gunship, reminding him subtly to keep his mouth shut. Bronko, like a small child, would nod in response and follow her like a lost lamb—a lost lamb with a motor mouth.


	3. Away we go

**A/N: Hey, everyone. I'm really sorry for taking so long to update this story. Just thought I'd apologize before we move on. Oh, and I'll apologize in advance for any further delays in the updating process! Thanks again for the support, and don't forget to leave those reviews! :)**

* * *

In the gunship, Samus shut the door as Bronko tripped up the ramp.

"Whoops! Well, that was a grand entrance, now wasn't it?"

Samus chuckled as Bronko unknowingly referenced back to her own graceful entrance into the cavern. She sat in the front seat and started up the gunship, preparing to ascend from the surface of the planet.

"Where are we headed, cap'n?" Bronko asked, lifting his scythe as a salute.

"We're going to the Ceres Space Station," she mumbled as she turned on the ignition and charted the course for Ceres Space Station. Bronko, unbeknownst to the hunter, became curious in the ship and gazed at the control panel and the dark interior, awed by the design.

"Cool," he muttered, "this is fantastic! I'm in Samus Aran's gunship!"

"Don't get too comfortable," Samus replied as they took off. Bronko watched as the surface of Tallon IV became smaller and less detailed from the sky.

"Whoa!" he yelped as Samus put the ship in gear and they jolted forward, leaving Tallon IV behind completely. Bronko waved at the planet cheerfully. "Goodbye, Tallon! Goodbye, Phendrana! Goodbye, old cave! Goodbye-"

"All right, I think you've made your point," Samus said as the pirate's voice cracked with hoarse goodbyes.

"Well, it's just that I was there for so long, you know, and-"

"Yes. I understand."

There was a long silence between Samus and Bronko as they cruised through space. Bronko marveled at the stars, planets, and other distant misty galaxies he could spot through the ship's windshield, letting an occasional dreamy sigh escape from his throat.

Samus drove on, still pondering the story behind Bronko's desertion. It's a classic elementary school bully story, she thought, with the disabled child being the center of the bullying circle. She turned her head to catch a glance of Bronko contentedly twitching his eyes as they moved from wonder to wonder. She felt some sort of pity on the pirate, even though she still had a twinge of distrust nagging in her mind. Bronko suddenly pivoted his head to gaze at the scenery in front of them. His eyes lit up in awe.

"Cap'n, check it out! That asteroid is sparkling!"

Samus jerked her head to the windshield again. There was a giant space rock that hurtled slowly towards the gunship, and then slightly grazed the ship on the side as Samus tugged at the wheel to avoid it. The ship was thrust aside by the massive rock, and Samus could hear a tremendous scraping sound on the port side of her gunship.

"Ahh! No!" she yelled in frustration as she attempted to steer away from the asteroid. Bronko stood by, dazed for a moment, and then snapped out of it.

"Cap'n, cap'n, is there anything I can do to help?" he yelled over the scraping. It seemed that asteroid had a gravitational force of its own, attracting Samus' gunship.

"No, no! You stay in here—I'm going to see what's going on out there!"

"Aye, aye!" Bronko replied, saluting again.

Samus hooked a cable to a latch on her suit to stay fastened to the ship as she opened the top hatch to see what the trouble was. As she hoisted herself up to the roof, she felt a strong force pulling her in closer to the asteroid. The force suddenly blew her into the asteroid's hard exterior, like a strong gust of wind. Once she hit the rock, Samus desperately tried to break free as the asteroid started to pick up speed and the gunship's engine began to make horrible grinding sounds. The hunter moved her eyes to silently survey the asteroid's surface. It was shiny and metallic. Cursing, she came to a realization.

"It's magnetic . . ."

Following a loud boom coming from the ship, Bronko's voice called from the cockpit.

"Cap'n, cap'n! I . . . I tripped and fell on the control panel! And I think I landed on . . . this big red button!"

"What?" Samus screamed from the roof. "No, please tell me you didn't touch anything!"

A nervous chuckle followed Samus' cry of distress.

"I would, but that would be lying! And lying is morally wrong, see-"

Samus swore loudly as the asteroid's great force and speed increased. She tried to move her gun arm, but to no avail.

"Bronko, get up here!" she commanded.

The space pirate scrambled to the roof, tying his own line around his waist. He looked with amusement at Samus' dilemma.

"What happened, cap'n?"

"Never mind what happened! I need you to help me de-magnetize suit!"

Bronko struggled to reach Samus, even though she was a few feet away.

"Aye, cap'n!" he said as he reached the hunter. "Where's the button?"

"On my helmet!" she cried over the grinding and roaring of the asteroid. "On the side, there's a little red switch!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Bronko screamed to the best of his ability. He reached for Samus' head and flipped the switch with a trembling scythe-arm when he located it on her helmet. "Got it!"

Samus felt herself collapse to the top of the ship as her suit de-magnetized itself.

"I have to do the same for the ship!" she cried, "Get back down in there, pirate!"

Bronko stumbled across the ship's roof to the hatch and lost his footing, thus tripping into the opening face-first with a yelp.

Samus jumped down and ignored Bronko, who lay on the floor, rubbing his head. She threw herself into the front seat and turned the ignition back on. The ship spluttered, similar to the sound of an old car starting, except with more metallic clunking.

"Come on!" Samus yelled, "Come on, you piece of crap!"

Slamming her fists on the control panel helplessly, Samus watched as the asteroid carried the gunship through space. She frantically searched for a way to de-magnetize the ship.

"I have somehow remove the electromagnetic force that the ship is releasing!"

"Did you try this button, cap'n?" Bronko screamed hoarsely in reply, indicating a large blue button that was flashing. Before Samus had a chance to warn him, Bronko stabbed at the button with his scythe.

"No!" Samus cried, "That's the-"

Both Samus and Bronko sprang out of the cockpit and through two gaps that opened up in the ceiling of the ship. Screaming, they flew into space. Bronko flailed his arms and wailed in desperation, while Samus clutched her life line.

"Bronko, you're still attached to the ship!" she shouted to the flailing space pirate. Bronko, barely hearing what the hunter had said, noticed her life line and remembered his. He grabbed it and flew behind the ship, though still connected to it.

Samus climbed "up" the cable that she was secured with to the surface of the gunship again. Using the life line to pull her way up to the top of the ship, the hunter tried to keep her feet planted to the metallic exterior.

As she clambered up the side of the ship, Samus caught a glimpse of a faint glow that surrounded the asteroid. She widened her watering eyes behind the green visor and looked forward, where the asteroid was pulling them. It was entering the atmosphere of a planet. A sudden heat wave overwhelmed Samus and blasted her backwards to the gunship's rear, where Bronko was dangling a long way off from his own line.

"Long time no see, cap'n!" he cried good-heartedly, despite the imminent peril that they faced.

"We're headed for another planet, pirate! Hold on tight; I have an idea!"

"Oh, good! You know, this is a great view from here!" the pirate replied heartily.

_What an optimist,_ Samus grumbled in her mind.

As the asteroid plummeted through the atmosphere and started to turn orange from the heat of the passing through, Samus grasped her line and watched the planet carefully.

"Bronko, when I tell you to, cut your line!"

Bronko looked at Samus with the same expression of panic that he had when they first met.

"I know I lost my mind a while back, Miss Aran, but even I know that's a crazy idea!"

"Trust me, pirate!" she yelled over the roaring of the asteroid.

The asteroid came closer and closer to the planet, soon disappearing into the jungle. Samus waited until she could faintly make out the outlines of what appeared to be trees in the distance.

"Ready, pirate?!"

Bronko shook his head rapidly.

"No! You're crazy, woman!"

Samus narrowed her eyes. _Almost . . . there . . . almost . . ._

"Now!"

Yelling, Bronko snipped his line with his massive scythe, while Samus shot through hers. Both of them fell through the atmosphere and watched as both the asteroid and the gunship plunged down to the surface. Samus looked at a free-falling Bronko, who was still hysterically sobbing.

"Wahhhhhh!"

"Bronko, do as I do!" she screamed. The hunter took the segment of line closest to her waist and clung to it. She held it in place with her gun arm and used her free hand to run it to a section that was further away from her, therefore creating a loop of the cable over her head. She wrapped her hand around the line a few times and let herself fall. Looking up, Samus could see Bronko imitating her motions. The trees below her were approaching quickly as the wind whistled through her helmet and screamed in her ears.

Samus stared down again and searched for a tree branch that she could loop the cable around. Once she spotted one, the hunter tried to move herself closer and threw the cable over the thick brown branch, catching herself from the fall.

"Nice work, cap'n!" cried Bronko as he fell past her. Samus called to him.

"Bronko, do the same as I did!"

"What did you-"

He was too far away for Samus to hear the rest of what he said.


	4. Finding the Lost Lamb

Samus watched as the space pirate plummeted down to the planet's surface. His deformed purple limbs frantically thrashed around his newly knotted cable in a vain attempt to repeat what the hunter had done. However, Samus couldn't tell if he had been successful or not in his descent.

Not hesitating to find out, the hunter swung her legs to press them against the tree's trunk so she wouldn't be dangling helplessly from her life line. As she regained her footing on the tree trunk, the hunter looked down to find the nearest branch. She stepped onto the branch carefully and unhooked her lifeline from her suit. Once she had done this, Samus latched the clip to the other portion of the line and tugged at it to tighten it around the branch. When she found it was firmly in place, Samus slid down the remaining portion of the cable and made her way down each branch, gracefully hopping until her feet met a hard ground that was covered with thick tree roots.

The hunter took a second to recover from the sequence of events and gazed at her surroundings. Thick trees and vines surrounded the entire area, along with a mossy ground that bore dead leaves and branches in every inch. After scouring the deep jungle she was in, Samus ran in the direction she had seen Bronko fall, becoming slightly concerned for him as she dove deeper into the swampy forest.

* * *

Bronko didn't have gills. He realized this as he plunged into a lake, still clutching his thick cable for dear life. He also didn't have fins or flippers to swim with, much to his dismay as he checked. Bronko felt himself sinking into the water, being weighed down by the thick and heavy life line. Exotically colorful fish curiously approached the skinny, purple, blue-eyed figure, and then retreated quickly as he tried to scream under the water, letting an explosion of bubbles erupt from his mouth. The pirate moved his arms and legs to the best of his abilities in a failed attempt to swim, to reach the gleaming surface. Bronko let go of his life line and used his scythes to slash at the open water mercilessly. Another stream of bubbles escaped his closed mouth uncontrollably. The pirate stopped swiping at the water to cover his mouth before any more of the air could escape from his respiratory system.

The pirate didn't know how to swim, nor did he know how to keep his bug-like lungs from bursting. In anguish, he let the air escape from him through a cry of despair. As the final few bubbles forced their way through Bronko's mouth, the pirate's head became light and dizzy. He shut his eyes and felt himself lowering until he hit the lake's sandy and grimy bottom.

At the left side of the lake, there came a low growling sound, followed by the slight swooshing of movement underwater.

* * *

Samus cursed as she fought off a group of swarming shreikbats that charged at her. She blasted them with her power beam and watched as they all fell to the ground, shrieking(they aren't called shriekbats for nothing). Sighing in relief, Samus continued her search for her chatty companion.

Samus walked for less than ten minutes before she reached a huge and eerie lake. The lake had a misty fog that hovered above it, adding a certain gloomy element to the area. The hunter kept a wary eye out for any hostile creatures that might inhabit the body of cold water. She decided to check by plucking a few berries, or what seemed to be berries, from a tree and tossing them individually into the water. Each of the black fruits plunked into the water and bounced back up again, floating on the surface. For what seemed to be hours, Samus watched as the berries quickly disappeared under the water, supposedly being consumed by hungry yet small and seemingly harmless fish underneath the watery barrier. Seeing and hearing no major threats, Samus started to make her way into the water, wading into it until she was knee-deep in green, mossy scum.

The hunter stopped wading when she heard a low rumbling sound coming from the depths of the lake. Her helmet visor suggested a high amount of danger coming from under the scummy water.

"Oh no," she gasped as the visor depicted a "warning" sign that flashed red. Carefully stepping further into the water, Samus switched her gun arm to "missile" and held it steadily, pointing it forward. She called for the space pirate, praying he wasn't anywhere near the water. As if the hunter had known him for ages, she knew how crippled Bronko was, and there was a very high probability that he wouldn't be able to climb to the surface of the lake.

"Bronko! Bronko, are you here? Hello? Bronko?"

Samus could almost feel the rumbling sound creeping up on her, which gave her no choice but to back away slowly. It was obvious at this point that there was something in the water that was over ten times bigger than the lost space pirate. Hoping that he wasn't in the lake, Samus clambered out of the water and aimed her gun at the sound.

At first, nothing happened for a few minutes. Samus stood on the sandy shore and kept her eyes on the surface of the water, waiting and watching. She was sure that the thundering sound wasn't just her imagination; it couldn't have been. The hunter's ears never lied.

A short "sploosh" came from further down on the lake's top layer. Jerking her head and gun arm instinctively, Samus tried to locate the source of the sound. A shady figure surrounded by a shroud of mist had popped out of the water, and was floating on the top some ways away from the shore.

"Bronko?" Samus asked cautiously.

Upon closer inspection. Samus could see it was the purple space pirate. He wasn't moving, nor was he talking or coughing.

"Ohh, not good . . ." the hunter groaned, "this isn't good . . ."

Getting into the scummy water again, Samus waded out to where the pirate floated. He wasn't drifting away, nor was he being carries by slight waves. He only sat motionless on the surface of the water. As the distance between Samus and Bronko decreased and the water got deeper with every step that the hunter took, another low growling sound came from under the water.

The hunter froze in her tracks. She was so close to Bronko, now she only needed to nab him and pull him to the shore.

Suddenly, Bronko's spindly body rose out of the water entirely thanks to a long tentacle that held him tight as it crashed through the water and let droplets of water cascade from it.

"Oh, crap . . ." muttered Samus as the tentacle lifted Bronko high into the air. She barely had time to dodge the next blow that the creature dealt as it brought another tentacle up and slammed it down on the water, intending to strike the hunter.

As Samus scrambled back to the shore, the creature lifted its massive head out of the water and let out a loud bellow. Samus analyzed it, looking over the creature's every body part in hopes of finding a potential weak spot.

The hunter recognized the creature to be a blogg; a water-bound beast with a six-pointed star shape for a head that split open three ways to become a massive set of jaws. It had three eyes, one on each bony jaw, and a hole in the center of its head as the primary ingestion organ. Underneath the surface, Samus knew that there lurked a long, legless body. However, unlike most of the blogg species, this one had tentacles growing from its body, one of which held the deformed space pirate aloft.

Samus jumped clear as another tentacle slammed down on the dry land where she stood. The hunter analyzed her surroundings and predicted the creature's next strike point. Rolling into a morph ball, Samus dodged the next blow by launching herself to the shore off to the left through the green scum. The blogg let out a loud gurgling bellow of frustration. Samus unrolled herself and checked the raised tentacle for Bronko. He was still limp in the creature's clutch. Samus could only hope that the blogg wouldn't drop or eat the space pirate.

The blogg charged at Samus with an open mouth, displaying a horrible combination of sharp teeth and the breath that smelled like rotting flesh. The hunter took quick aim and blasted a missile into the blogg's mouth as it came towards her, roaring. The roaring was replaced with a high-pitched screech as the missile exploded in the back of the creature's throat. The blogg retreated back under the water, squeaking strangely. Samus immediately looked again at the tentacle that still held Bronko's spidery body to see if it was still high in the air. To her dismay, the long and slimy arm was descending back into the water. The bounty hunter switched her arm cannon to "super missile" and shot it at her target—right below the space pirate. The missile hit the target dead-on. The top portion of the tentacle was severed from the rest of it in a burst of purple blood. Disgusted yet determined, Samus used the morph ball to cut her way through the water and to the other side of the lake. She unrolled herself and held out her arms to catch Bronko as his listless body tumbled through the air.

The pirate landed hard in the hunter's arms, forcing her down to the wet and shallow scum water. She awkwardly threw his thorax over her shoulder, trying not to damage what was already hurt. Samus struggled to keep herself up as she placed Bronko on the slimy, rocky bank by the lake. After he'd been settled on the smooth and wet rocks, Samus turned to check on the blogg. As she turned, Samus could see the blogg had lifted itself out of the water and loomed over the hunter. Once it opened its mouth to scream at her and potentially consume her as a snack, Samus blasted two more super missiles into its throat. With another cry of pain, the blogg collapsed into the water with a massive splash. Without warning, one tentacle came down on Samus' free arm and forced her to the ground. Samus bit her lip, stifling a yelp of pain as she felt herself being crushed by the long and wet arm that somehow would not retreat into the water with the rest of the body. The hunter tried desperately to escape the suction-cupped arm of the beast, but she couldn't move. The oxygen was pushed out of her lungs slowly by the heavy tentacle.

_Crap, no . . . no . . ._

Spots appeared in the hunter's vision, signaling a blackout. As she struggled to take a final breath, Samus shuddered and fainted.


	5. Save Ol' Samus

Bronko's blue eyes stung as he tried to open them after waking up.

"Oh my stars . . . wh' happened?" he mumbled as his body cracked from the effort of trying to hoist himself up. "C'mon, old boy, you can do it . . ." he said to himself in an attempt to motivate his limbs to cooperate with him. He sat up and aligned his back by puffing out his scrawny chest. _Crack. Crack-crack. Crack._ "Ahh . . ." he moaned in both pain and relief. Next, the pirate extended his scythes to stretch out the deformed muscles in his arms. _Crack-crack._ Bronko looked around him, though his vision was still blurry after getting scum and other alien bacteria in his eyes. The pirate blinked out the debris that was lodged between his eyelids and groaned as they burned. "Oww . . ."

Bronko caught a glimpse of the giant disembodied tentacle that sat next to him and gazed at it, still dazed. He stared at the slimy gray thing with mild interest, and then shrugged.

"Must've been a tough battle, big guy . . ." he mumbled drunkenly under his breath. "You'd better be careful next time, 'cause your opponents will keep getting more . . . they'll be more . . .p-powerful, y'know? Yeah, big and strong. Sorta like . . ." the pirate's eyes focused on a bright spot of yellow that protruded from underneath the tentacle. "Sorta like . . ." His vision cleared a bit. "Sorta . . . like . . ."

Bronko had a sudden flashback of the large yellow gunship falling from the sky. He was plummeting to the ground, and he ended up falling into a lake. Something picked him up and squeezed the air from him after he thought he was dead. A flash of yellow and red crossed his vision as he felt air being forced out of his lungs. Bronko came back to reality and realized that the splotch of yellow was an arm.

"Miss Aran!"

Bronko climbed to his feet with a chorus of cracks and snaps, rushing to the crushed bounty hunter. "Oh, oh, my goodness. Miss Aran! Are you okay? Can you hear my voice? Hello? Hello?"

No response. Bronko replied to the silence with a frantic and desperate series of cries.

"Oh no! Oh my gracious! Oh my dear aunt Sally! Oh, help! Someone, help! SOS! Save ol' Samus! Help! Help!"

The distraught space pirate clutched his head in hysteria.

"Oh, what do I do? Miss Aran, help me! What do I do? Wait . . ." Bronko took a moment to register in his mind that Samus couldn't assist him in this situation. "Oh, pardon my foul language, but gosh darn this suction-cupped arm! Uhh . . ." Bronko glanced at his scythes and then at the long tentacle. Cautiously, he poked at it with his arm and retreated quickly as it started to ooze purple from the hole where he had poked it.

"Ugh, that's just revolting . . . Oh, there's nothing else I can do! Well . . . here goes . . ."

Bronko started to carefully slice the tentacle into pieces like a loaf of bologna. Every time the blood spurted out, Bronko would cry out in disgust.

"Oh, gross! Ew, ew, ew! Oh, son of a Mother Brain, yuck!"

It took quite a while for the poor, deformed space pirate to chop up the entire tentacle. Some spots were more firm than others, and this meant that he had to saw through these areas. Every now and then he had to turn away from the gruesome job to compose himself. Finally, after hours, Bronko pushed all of the tentacle pieces away from the crumpled figure of Samus. Her yellow suit was stained with purple blood.

"Miss Aran, Miss Aran, you're here! Oh, thank goodness, are you all right?"

Again, when there was no response, Bronko replied.

"Oh, yes, of course, you're probably very hurt! Well, uh, there's no need to worry! I just need to . . . oh, how do I do this? I can't remember . . ." Bronko wracked his brain to try and recall one method—_any_ method—of revival that he learned years ago. When nothing came to his mind, the addled pirate took hold of Samus' shoulders and clumsily shook her. "Oh, Miss Aran, please wake up! Please, please, please, wake up!" After a few seconds of rattling the unconscious hunter to the best of his ability, the pirate got to his feet and muttered under his breath in a frenzy. "Ah, lemme see . . . what else . . . how can I . . . where's . . . oh, yes!" he exclaimed loudly as he saw the lake. "Water!" Bronko nervously scanned his scythes, knowing he couldn't pick up any sort of liquid with them. He very slowly turned back towards Samus and removed her helmet, grasping it with both arms and lifting it. "Careful, now . . . carefully . . ."

Once Bronko had placed the red helmet next to the hunter's face, he stumbled back over to the lakeside and attempted to scoop the water up through his scythes.

"Ohh . . ." he groaned, flustered. "Wait, wait . . . I can . . . oh, that might work."

Hesitantly, the pirate dipped his chin into the scummy water and opened his mouth, letting it flow between his teeth. "Hrgh!"

Rushing back to Samus, the pirate spewed the water out of his mouth and into the hunter's motionless face.

"Blehh! Ugh! Yaaah, that's vile! Oh, how horrible! Ew, ew!"

After spitting as much scum from his mouth as he could, Bronko checked on her again. Samus hadn't stirred; there wasn't even a flutter of her eyelids.

"Oh . . . oh, Miss Aran, I . . . I'm so sorry . . ."

Bronko's eyes filled with tears. For the first in months, he was feeling terrible and guilty. The feelings hit the mad pirate's mind suddenly, triggering a meltdown. The pirate started to bawl uncontrollably, letting his emotions overwhelm him.

"Oh, this is my fault! I can't bring her back, and it's my doing! The dirty handiwork of a dysfunctional space pirate! Oh, I'm a cruel, vicious, rotten creature! I didn't deserve to leave Phendrana! Oh, woe! Oh, I'm so sorry, Miss Aran! I'm so sorry!"

Bronko kept blubbering about his guilt for another few minutes, until he noticed the sky was growing darker.

"Look at the time-! Gracious, it's . . . it's getting late, Miss Aran!" he rasped as his voice was shot from the sobbing. He sniffled and wiped the streaming tears that still cascaded down his face. "We . . . we should probably get you somewhere until you . . . until you wake up. Huh? What do you say?"

Bronko stared again at the thin eyebrows, golden bangs, and pale skin. He gazed over to the helmet next to her and decided mutely to put it back on her head.

While he slid the helmet carefully over Samus' face, Bronko accidentally brushed his scythe over a button on the side of the red helmet.

"_Emergency oxygen supply valve activated,_" the helmet stated.

"Waahh!" yelled Bronko as he jumped back, startled that the helmet was speaking. "Pardon me, could you repeat that, please?"

When the helmet didn't reply with speech, it started to produce a hissing sound. Bronko, still confused, finished sliding the helmet over Samus' head. The hissing became more muffled as the helmet was put into place. Bronko looked at the hunter's face, trying to catch sight of any muscle twitching. He moved his gaze to her stomach which, miraculously, was rising and falling.

Uplifted, Bronko whooped and jumped up and down.

"Oh, huzzah! The cap'n's alive! She lives! Ha haaa!"


End file.
